Current document authentication relies on the manual inspection of physical markers, such as, stickers, thermal stamps and water marks. However, such manual inspection using the naked eye is highly variable from person to person and highly prone to error, rendering such documents susceptible to fraud.
Accordingly, automated authentication mechanisms have been developed that use encryption keys to digitally mark documents. However, there is currently no guarantee that the intended users hold the keys. If the encryption keys are stolen, they may be used to corrupt documents and commit fraud.